Do you watch television? Do you like art? Do you love the sunrise? Do you like looking at attractive people? Well then you are a visual person, as most of us are who can see. And when you are a visual person, you will respond to images that you see.
For instance, when I see an ad for a cold Pepsi® on a hot summer day, I start craving one. Or when I see a beautiful piece of art, it calls up memories, usually of my childhood. It is visual cues that big advertising agencies and marketers have been counting on since print ads in newspapers and then of course commercials on television. So as online marketers, we should take our cues from these bigwigs. They have poured millions of dollars into marketing which prove that imagery works.
So with that being said, as you write and publish more articles across the web - you can get one leg up on your competition by adding a "visual element" to your articles - add an image.
If you notice, for the last several weeks (maybe months), I have been adding images to my blog articles on this site. Now while I cannot do that for every article directory I submit to - I can do it on my own site and I must admit that they look great! It gives my articles a more polished look, as I also strive for the images to serve as a visual cue for the article's topic.
Not only do I think they look more appealing to my readers, but reader statistics have shown that since I have implemented adding images to my articles - my site statistics show that people stay on my site much longer then they use to.
Where Should You Get Article Images?
Well, one time I was at a internet conference and one of the "platinum" experts there told everyone how she would go on Google, search for an image, save that image and then put it up on her site or her newsletter, etc. This was her advice to hundreds of people there! It was dead wrong.
Every time you "just grab" an image from a image search and place it in one of your articles, you are taking the chance that you are violating copyright infringement laws. Plus - many times the owner of that site paid a service for the rights to those images - but you haven't. Now I realize that people do it, but it's not right.
This is what I do instead:
1. I invest in stock photo images. There are lots of sites out there that have great low-cost images. You can buy subscriptions or pay per image. Price depends on the size of the image. Most blogs only need the xsmall image size.
2. I do searches for free images. There are a lot of free licensed media files out there. You can find a lot on the free encyclopedia sites online.
3. I do this occasionally, but you can always take your own photos. A quick shot with your digital or computer camera and you've got great images instantly. No worries about attribution.
Ready to get more powerful article marketing tips like this? Then I would like to invite you to grab your complimentary copy of my Article Marketing Success
